Hotel of the dead guests
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Hotel of the dead guests |
| Original title | Hotel of the Dead Guests / El enigma de los Cornell |
 | |
| Country of production | Federal Republic of Germany / Spain |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1965 |
| length | 96 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Eberhard Itzenplitz |
| script |
Hannes-Karl Kubiak , Michael Dreesen , Max Rottmann |
| production | Music House ( Karl Heinz Busse ), CICE, Carthago Films |
| music | Gert Wilden |
| camera |
Dieter Wedekind , Manuel Hernández Sanjuán |
| cut | Elisabeth Kleinert-Neumann |
| occupation | |
| |
Hotel of the Dead Guests (Spanish title: El enigma de los Cornell ) is a German-Spanish crime film by the director Eberhard Itzenplitz . The free after the crime novel The Red Vase (Original title: Money On Murder ) by Heather Gardiner resulting black and white film was launched on 26 March 1965 in the West German cinemas.
action
Hotel detective Janos Kovacs is coming to London from Sanremo , where the Schlager Festival will soon take place. He wants to sell important information to crime reporter Barney Blair. Before that happens, Kovacs is stabbed to death. At the direction of his boss, Barney travels to San Remo, where he is supposed to investigate at Kovacs' last hotel, Atlanta . In Atlanta many important persons of pop business are staying, including the owner of the record company Phonomac, Ruth Cornell, and the biggest star of the company, Lucy Balmore. There is a crisis in the ideal world, however, if Lucy's contract with Phonomac is not to be extended, as the record company has just found a new star to market in Hannelore Auer . Lucy's manager Jack also dropped her.
Barney hears this news from his colleague, reporter Gilly Powell, who is supposed to cover the festival. Through her he also met Ruth's new husband Larry Cornell, who was once engaged to Gilly. Alice Creusot also joins the group, which is the new friend of Ruth's brother Morton Marlowe. He is not expected from Rome until later. Ruth invites the company to a reception in her hotel room in the evening, but is strangled beforehand. The murderer takes a valuable necklace and flees. Shortly thereafter, Gilly appears in Ruth's room and finds Lucy there, bending over the dead Ruth. Lucy denies the act, but searches the room for promissory notes, having received £ 4,000 from Ruth for gambling. Lucy finds the bills and burns them. The rest of the company appear and bring Morton with them, who has just arrived but is not staying in his usual hotel room, which is occupied by Gilly. The murder is reported and Inspector Forbesa begins his investigation. Lucy and Gilly cover each other while most of the other guests were busy preparing for Ruth's celebration at the time of the crime. Since the hotel rooms are always open and Ruth's room was accessible via a fire escape, anyone could have been the perpetrator. All hotel guests are prohibited from leaving.
By chance, Gilly finds the valuable necklace that the thief Ruth stole in a vase in her hotel room. During the interrogation she gives the necklace to Inspector Forbesa, who advises her to change rooms as soon as possible. However, Gilly's room has already been ransacked and she is knocked out when she enters her hotel room. Alice Creusot is meanwhile blackmailed by Jack Courtney, who knows her real name is Agnes Green and was suspected of murdering her husband, even if the court acquitted her. He asks her £ 10,000 for his silence. When she refuses, he calls Barney and asks him how much new information about Ruth's murder is worth to him. When Agnes interrupts the conversation, Barney rushes into Jack's room, fearing the worst. However, Jack is well and Barney confronts him with his knowledge: Jack has taken on numerous names in the past in order to blackmail other people. Jack threatens Barney with a gun and a scuffle ensues, at the end of which Barney points the gun at Jack. At that moment, however, he is killed by three shots in his hotel room. The gun is later found in Lucy's room.
Liftboy Bucci knows who the killer is and slips Gilly a slip of paper asking for a meeting. Shortly afterwards, Bucci disappeared. Inspector Forbesa uses Gilly in his attempt to evacuate. He found a letter in Jack's files that identified the killer. Gilly is supposed to give a company and mention the letter. During the night, the murderer would do everything possible to take the letter. Everything goes as planned, only Barney reacts horrified at Gilly's behavior, he's afraid for her. During the night the perpetrator gets into Gilly's room, is able to overpower Inspector Forbesa and is only chased away by Barney and falls to his death over the fire escape: it was Morton, Ruth's brother. Jack had found a newspaper clipping on the scene in which Morton had noted his departure time from London. For he had not traveled to Rome, but to London, where he killed Janos. So he arrived earlier in San Remo, where he killed his sister and hid the jewelry in his hotel room, which was always booked, but this time Gilly was already quartered in it. Jack in turn tried to blackmail Morton and was therefore killed by him. It was not just the blackmail that was the reason for his murder. He had also blackmailed Alice Creusot with the knowledge of her true identity and knew that Morton, at Alice's instigation, became her husband's murderer. Janos had to die because he had evidence of Morton's perpetration and Alice's assignment and wanted to sell them to Barney. Alice is arrested for an accessory to murder.
History of origin
Prehistory and pre-production
The film and music producer Karl Heinz Busse had made some popular hit films in the 1960s . At the beginning of 1964, Busse finally announced a film project with Hotel der toten Zeiten , with which he wanted to build on the success of the Edgar Wallace films by producer Horst Wendlandt . The novel Die Rote Vase (original title: Money On Murder ) by the Australian Heather Gardiner served as a template for the script, which was originally published in 1951 and first published in German in 1955 .
Alfred Vohrer was initially intended to be the director. In addition to Karin Dor and Joachim Fuchsberger , Ulla Jacobsson , Eva Bartok , Elke Sommer and Paul Hubschmid were to take on the leading roles. After Constantin-Filmverleih rejected the project and most of the actors were initially fully booked, the start of shooting was delayed until the beginning of 1965. At this point in time, Busse were at least available to Karin Dor, Joachim Fuchsberger and Elke Sommer, while other roles had to be changed. In addition, they saw themselves obliged to compromise to fall back on the television director Eberhard Itzenplitz , who was to direct his first and only feature film.
production
Hotel der dead guests was filmed in the Bavaria film studios in early 1965 . The outdoor shots also took place in Munich . The costumes created Marie-Louise Lehmann who Filmbauten come from Walter J. Blokesch .
Film music
The soundtrack comes from Gert Wilden . In addition, two hits by other composers can be heard: Hannelore Auer sings In Athens there is a reunion of Mikis Theodorakis and Elke Sommer performs with the title I say no (Ma ora no) .
reception
Publications
The FSK were hotel guests of the dead after an examination on 15 March 1965. 16 years free. The film opened on March 26, 1965 with modest success in German cinemas. On August 5, 1972, it ran for the first time on German television on ZDF . It was released on video in March 2000 and on DVD in August 2011. The age rating has since been reduced from 16 to 12 years.
Reviews
The lexicon of the international film called the hotel of the dead guests "only a little thrilling crime fiction" and criticized above all the "amateurish style".
Even the Protestant film observer doesn't think much of the film. In its summary it says: “Poor crime thriller about murders during a hit festival in San Remo. Possible for adults, but not recommended as there is better entertainment in the area of the genre. "
Paimann's film lists at least stated: “A nifty and opaque story, which, however, does not allow any thinking and surprises with an unexpected (narrated) solution. The game is routine, the presentation and background music are appropriate, the photography corresponds. "
For Cinema , the film was an "awkward attempt to cross hit films and Edgar Wallace crime novels."
Web links
- Hotel guests of the dead in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Hotel of the dead guests at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ 96 minutes for cinema projection (24 images / second), 92 minutes for television playback (25 images / second), film length: 2614 meters
- ↑ a b c Joachim Kramp: Hello! This is Edgar Wallace speaking. The history of the crime film series from 1959 to 1972. Third, revised and expanded edition . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89602-645-3 , p. 463-464 .
- ^ Hotel of the dead guests. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 12, 2016 .
- ↑ Evangelischer Presseverband München, Critique No. 126/1965
- ^ Hotel of the dead guests. (No longer available online.) In: old.filmarchiv.at. Paimann's film lists , No. 2934_1, April 27, 1965, archived from the original on October 12, 2016 ; accessed on October 12, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ See cinema.de
